Warrant details sexual assault of minor

Alex Gecan

Published
12:00 am EDT, Friday, April 26, 2013

MIDDLETOWN >> A superior court unsealed a warrant Friday in the case of a city man on trial for rape.

Joseph Pantano, 20, of 294 South Main St., allegedly had sex with a 14-year-old girl whom he had known in Meriden and again in Middletown, and when she told him that she was pregnant, he demanded that she get an abortion.

Pantano had turned himself in on April 3 on charges of second-degree sexual assault (statutory rape) and risk of injury to a child. He has yet to enter a plea.

According to the warrant, Pantano, who was 19 at the time of the incident, had seen the victim often, first as friends and Facebook friends but later romantically.

According to the victim's statements, "Joey" would hang out on her street about once a week and, beginning a few months before the investigation began, they would kiss each other.

The warrant then lists one episode of sexual intercourse as described by the girl, which took place at her apartment on Dec. 30, 2012, when nobody else was home.

A month later, the victim realized she was late for her period and took a pair of home pregnancy tests. "I took both tests and they were positive," she said in a statement copied in the warrant. "I left Joey a message on Facebook to call me because it was important. He didn't call back that day."

The next day she took two more pregnancy tests--both of which came up positive--and Pantano called her back, so she invited him over and he agreed, according to the warrant. She told Pantano she was pregnant, and he allegedly told her to "kill the baby," and that if the girl loved him, she would do it. The girl refused.

One day later, the girl told her mother about the pregnancy, and who the father was, so her mother took her to a hospital for a blood test, which confirmed the pregnancy, according to the warrant.

The mother said in a statement that she did not want to press charges against Pantano, but that when she called him to confront him, he told her that he wanted her to take her daughter for an abortion.

After the girl and her mother gave police their statements, a detective called Pantano in for questioning, and he agreed at first, but called back the day he was scheduled to meet with police and said that he didn't want to show up without a lawyer, according to the warrant. The detective called Pantano back, and Pantano told him that his mother and the victim's mother were talking and "were going to work it out."

Before he got off the phone, the detective told Pantano that he "just needed to know if the sex he had with the victim was consensual, not forced. Pantano said yes, it was consensual," according to the warrant.

A half hour later, the girl's mother called the detective and told him that Pantano's mother, Yvette Bacote, had "asked her to lie about the incident and tell police that Pantano wasn't the father," according to the warrant. The detective advised the victim's mother not to have any contact with Bacote, who had asked to meet the victim's mother in person.

Judge Lisa Morgan approved the warrant Feb. 28, and Pantano turned himself in just over a month later. He is being represented by the public defender's office and is scheduled to make his next court appearance May 16, according to court documents.

Second-degree sexual assault charges are filed when a person is accused of having sexual intercourse with someone between the ages of 13 and 16 when the defendant is more than three years older than the victim. It is a Class B felony if the victim is under 16. If convicted, Pantano could face up to 10 years in prison, or fines of up to $10,000, or both.